Luxembourg, January 20, 2020.  The eighthfinals of both the women’s CEV Volleyball Cup 2020 and CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup 2020 will get underway this week. The 16 first-leg games in the two competitions are scheduled to take place on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday at various venues across Europe, with some big clashes in Russia and Italy expected to draw the most attention.

CEV Cup

This week’s programme in CEV’s second most prestigious club competition offers six games on Wednesday and two on Thursday, with the latter sparking the most anticipation as teams from some of Europe’s strongest national leagues will lock horns with each other in the race for spots among the last eight.

After winning the Challenge Cup trophy upon their European Cups debut last season, Saugella MONZA of Italy are visiting Russian powerhouse and Champions League regulars Dinamo KAZAN at 19:00 local time on Thursday. In December, Dinamo triumphed as winners of Russia’s national cup and are currently placed third in the domestic Superliga standings. They arrived at the eighthfinals after a tough challenge from Germany’s SC POTSDAM, which they won by 3-2 away and 3-1 at home. At the same time, Saugella snatched two straight-set victories in their sixteenthfinal matches with Ukraine’s Orbita ZNU Zodush ZAPORIZHZHYA. The team from Monza is placed sixth in the current Italian league standings. They recently signed a new coach - the experienced Carlo Parisi - and a young American player as well, Kathryn Plummer. As for Dinamo, their roster includes the youngest player in the CEV Cup competition - Arina Fedorovtseva, who turned 16 last Sunday.

Sergey Sikachev, assistant coach of Dinamo KAZAN: “The winter break helped us cure whatever minor injuries we had. Now it is no time to relax. We are actively training and all our preparation is focused on the upcoming CEV Cup game.”

Evgeniya Startseva, captain of Dinamo KAZAN: “I love Italy: it is warm and the foos is tasty. As for our rival, we have analysed them carefully, and Samanta Fabris will tell us everything about them since she played in Italy for a long time.”

Federica Squarcini, middle blocker of Saugella MONZA: “We have to think about growing, game after game, starting from the challenge against Dinamo in Russia. We are a very strong team and we have shown it so far. Victories bring victories and we are confident that we can show what we can do. We are working hard and we are heading to the next challenge to win again.”

Also on Thursday, at 20:30 local time, the other Italian team in the competition, Unet e-work BUSTO ARSIZIO, welcome Poland’s Developres SkyRes RZESZÓW. The team from Busto Arsizio are the defending 2019 CEV Cup winners, currently standing second in the Italian league table. They went through the CEV Cup sixteenthfinals without dropping a set against Czechia’s VK UP OLOMOUC. The squad from Rzeszow, participant in last season’s Champions League and 2019 bronze medallists and cup finalists domestically, are also placed second in the current Polish league standings. In the previous round of continental competition, they managed to overcome French powerhouse ASPTT MULHOUSE in the golden set after two five-set encounters.

Anna Kaczmar, setter of Developres SkyRes RZESZÓW: “The opponent is a top-notch team. For sure, they will be prepared well tactically and we will have to make no mistakes, in the first place. We have to pressure them with our serving because they have great firepower. The rival is strong, but we will definitely fight and there is no reason to cross us out in advance. I am glad that we will be able to face such a powerful opponent, with so many well-known names.”

All of the other six first-leg eightfinals will take place on Wednesday, with the fixture between Belarus’s Minchanka MINSK and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ZOK Bimal-Jedinstvo BRČKO getting the CEV Cup competition week underway at 19:00 local time at the Uruchje Palace of Sport in the Belarusian capital.



Challenge Cup

This week’s big game in CEV’s third-tier club competition will actually open the Challenge Cup eighthfinals on Tuesday. Starting at 19:00 local time, Russia’s Yenisei KRASNOYARSK entertain Greece’s Olympiacos PIRAEUS at the Dom Sporta im. M. Dvorkina in the only match on that day’s programme. In the sixteenthfinals, Yenisei who finished fifth in the Russian Superliga and second for the national cup in the 2018-2019 season managed victories over Hungary’s UTE BUDAPEST by 3-1 at home and 3-2 away. 2018 Challenge Cup winners and reigning Greek champions Olympiacos started their campaign from the qualification round, where they shut out fellow citizens AOF Porfyras PIRAEUS twice, before claiming two sixteenthfinal victories over Israel’s Hapoel KFAR SABA, in straight sets at home and in five sets away.

Branko Kovacevic, coach of Olympiacos PIRAEUS: "We have worked hard enough in the off-season for the upcoming games and the first opponent we are going against is the team of Yenisei. We have studied this rival and formed the opinion that they have a very good squad, but we are ready to emerge from this series with the victory as we are keen on making a good run in Europe."

Another eighthfinal encounter that draws a lot of attention and is hard to predict is that between DRESDNER SC, representing the German Bundesliga, and last season’s CEV Cup semifinalists Stiinta BACAU of Romania. They meet on Wednesday at 19:00 local time at the Margon Arena in Dresden.

Four more games are scheduled on Wednesday, while Thursday’s programme features two fixtures with the Challenge Cup competition week closing with the match between Slovenia’s Calcit Volley KAMNIK and Hungary’s BEKESCSABAI Röplabda SE set to start at 20:00 local time at the Sportna Dvorana in Kamnik.

The Turkish team of Beylikduzu Voleybol ISTANBUL have withdrawn from the competition, citing financial difficulties, and as a result, Askö LINZ-STEG of Austria have already secured their spot in the quarterfinals.

For more info, go to the CEV Cup 2020 and the CEV Challenge Cup 2020 sections.